TV Tweeters Are Brands’ Biggest Fans

At 8 o’clock tonight, stop what you’re doing and listen. What you hear will be the sound of 36 million people Tweeting about TV. According to the Nielsen SocialGuide, TV fans sent 990 million tweets in 2013 and that number is likely to grow in 2014 because now the networks and the actors and TV producers are all on board encouraging fans to log on for live chats and teaser Tweets and other goodies.

But this isn’t just good news for those in the TV business. It’s also good news for brands. Nielsen knows this because in addition to cataloging Tweetes from every TV show in the US across 250 channels, they’re also collecting Tweets related to 500 major brands.

They put all that data into the hopper and look what came out:

5.5 million people Tweeted about both brands and TV shows from August to October 2013. That’s 73% of the total number of people who sent brand-oriented Tweets during that time period. Even more spectacular is the fact that TV Tweeters were responsible for 89% of all branded Tweets on Twitter.

Here’s a list of the most popular brand categories among TV Tweeters.

What this study doesn’t tell us is if they’re Tweeting about the brands that pop-up while they’re watching TV. For example, are they Tweeting about the obvious Ford product placement moments on Hawaii Five-O or the latest cute kid on the “It’s Not Complicated” commercials.

I’d bet that it goes beyond that. I think these numbers show two things:

People who Tweet about TV just tend to be more socially gregarious so they just naturally Tweet more about everything there is to Tweet about, including branded products.

Also, that people who feel compelled to express their thoughts about a TV show are simply more opinionated, so they express their opinions about brands, too.

What that means is, you don’t have to run an expensive TV ad to snag the TV Tweeter – you just need to find a way to hook your brand to their favorite show and you’re in.

Which TV shows are trending on Twitter this week? Pretty Little Liars, American Idol, The Bachelor, Teen Wolf, Saturday Night Live, American Horror Story and WWE Monday Night Raw. Truly, something for everyone.